clowes



(No Model.)

G. H. CLOWES & E. L; FRI SBIE, Jr.

PI-RE ESQAPE. No. 271,422. I Patented Jan.30, 1883.

Unites STATES PATENT Fries.

GEORGE E. ULOWES AND EDWARD L. FRISBIE, JR, OF \VATERBURY, CONN.

Fl RE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 271,422, dated January 30, 1883.

Application filed July 28, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE H. OLowEs and EDWARD L. FRIsBIE, J r., both of Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Fire-Escapes, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the class of fireescape which consists of a flexible ladder,

to which, when not in use, is rolled or wound upon a reel arranged within a building, and which is paid or run out through an opening in the wall of the building when required for use, the said opening being closed by a hinged I5 door or shutter when the ladder is wound up.

In such fire-escapes a weight is frequently attached to the end of the ladder, especially if the ladder is of light weight, so that it will run or pay out more readily, and this weight may be considered as a part of the ladder.

Our invention consists in the combination, witha reel and aflexible fire-escape ladder, of a hinged door or shutter adapted to swing downward and outward in opening, and provided 2 c on the inner side with a cradle, in which the end of the ladder rests when the door or shutter is closed, and which is curved on its back, so as to form a saddle for the ladder to pass over when the door or shutter is open.

0 4 The invention also consists in a novel and simple means of securing the several parts of the tire-escape to the wall of a building; in a novel and simple means ofretarding the rotation of the reel as the ladder is run or paid 5 out, so that the reel will not rotate too fast;

and in a novel construction of ladder, whereby we obtain the necessary strength and flexibility with little weight, all of which features are fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel represents a vertical section of a portion of a wall provided with a fire-escape of our improved construction, the reel being shown in end elevation and the ladder being partly run out.

5 Fig. 2 represents a corresponding view, save that the tire-escape is represented entirely in section and the ladder is entirely wound up on the reel. Fig. 3 represents a horizontal section of the wall and a plan of the escape. Fig.

4 represents a section on the dotted line w m, Fig. 3, showing only the parts which are fixed.

to the wall and the manner of securing them. Fig.5 represents a portion of our improved ladder upon a larger scale;' and Figs. 6 and 7 represent transverse sections of the ladder, Fig. 7 being taken through a rung of the ladder.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures. 4

Adesignates the wall of a building, and A designates an opening therein, behind which the fire-escape is arranged.

In the present example of our invention a frame, B, is applied to the outside of the wall, and a similar frame, B, is applied to the inside of the wall.

0 designates two brackets or hangers, which are secured upon the inner frame, B, and inthe present example of ourinvention the said brackets or hangers are secured upon the frame B, and the frames B B are both secured in place at the opening A by means of two eyebolts, D, which pass through the wall, the framesB B, and the brackets or hangers O, as shown in Fig. 4. The brackets or hangers O are prevented from turning on the bolts D by means of steady-pins a connecting them with the inner frame, B, as shown in Fig. 4.

E designates a fixed shaft supported in the hangers or brackets O by means of anut, b, at each end, and upon this shaft is mounted a reel adapted both to turn and slide longitudinally.

The reel here represented is composed of two heads or flanges, F, and an intermediate drum or cylinder, F;'but it might be composed of similar heads or flanges secured rigidly upon a shaft which turns with the reel, and may be slipped longitudinally or in the direction of its length inbearings in the hangers or brackets 0. 0

Gr designates a ladder secured at its inner end to the reel, and adapted to be wound thereon, and the heads or flanges F of the reel are provided with handles 0, whereby the reel may be turned to wind up the ladder. The ladder 5 employed may be of any suitable construction, provided it is sufficiently flexible to enable it to be wound on the reel; but we prefer to use a ladder of the construction here shown, and which is best illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. ICO This ladder is composed of flat strips or ribbons cl, of steel, which may be tempered or not,

or of similar strips of other metal, and rungs c, which are here shown as consisting of tubes split or slotted at the ends 0. The strips d are inserted in the slots, and the end portions of the tubes are flattened and riveted to the strips. The strips or ribbons are very desirable, because their flexibility will allow of their coiling or winding smoothly on the reel, and because they att'ord the necessary strength with light weight, and are not liable to kink in winding theladderonthereel,asarechains. Thestrips (l might be used for the side pieces of a ladder having rungs of other and various forms, instead of the tubular rungs.

At the outer end of the ladder G is secured a bar or weight, G, which enables the ladder to be paid out quickly through the opening A, and which may be considered as a part of the ladder. The weight G is here shown as attached to the strips 01 by means of short chainsf.

The opening A, when the ladder is reeled up, is closed by a door or shutter, H, which is hinged upon a rod or bar, g, supported in the eye-shaped heads of the bolts D, as best shown in Fig. 3. The door or shutter H may be swung up so as to close the opening A, as shown in Fig. 2, and 011 the inner side thereof, near the lower edge, is formed a cradle or rest, H, which holds .01 supports the weight G, and consequently the said weight holds the door or shutter closed when the apparatus is not in use. When the shutter or door H is swung downward and outward the back of the cradle H, which is properly curved, forms a saddle or support over which the ladder runs out, as shown in Fig. 1, and holds the ladder away from the face of the wall.

At each end of the door or shutter are ribs or flanges h, projecting below the back of the cradle, and when the ladder is running out over the saddle these flange It forms guards, between which the ladder passes and which prevent the lateral shifting of the ladder.

Vhen it is desired to draw up the ladder the reel is turned by means of its handles, and when the weight or bar G is drawn up sufl1- ciently far it catches in the cradle H, and carries the door or shutter H upward and inward with it, and by resting in the cradle holds said door or shutter closed.

I designates a cord or connection, which is attached to the door or shutter H above its hinge at t', and is thence passed in a groove in one ofthe guards It, under the cradle H, upward over a pulley, j, and thence downward inside the wall A. When it is desired to use the fire-escape the cord or other connection I is pulled and the shutter or door H drawn open, whereupon the ladder immedi ately pays or runs out. After a considerable portion of the ladder is run out its weight will tend to accelerate the speed of the reel to an undesirable extent, and to prevent this we employ a novel means for retarding the reel.

()0 the outer side ofeach flange or head F is a circular bearing-surface, k, which is sinuous or corrugated, as best shown in Fig. 3, and

the curves or corrugations of both heads or flanges are so formed that the high points or projections in one head or flange are directly opposite the middle of the curves or depressions in the other.

In the hangers or bracketsU are inserted screws l, forming projections which are in the path of the corrugated or sinuous bearing-surfaces k, and these screws are exactly opposite each other and may be adjusted to project more or less inward. The screws are so near together that the high points of the surfaces It cannot pass them without striking, and hence as the reel turns the-high points in said surfaces are continually striking the screws or projections lalternately, and the reel is shifted to and fro longitudinally to such an extent that its rotary motion is greatly retarded. This means for retarding the reel we consider very important; and it is obvious that the same result would be attained if the screws l were in the heads or flanges of the reel, and the sinuous bearing-surfaces It were on fixed flanges at the ends of the reel.

Instead of the screws 1, anyother form of studs, pins, or projections may be used, and they may be adjustable or not, as may be desired.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a reel and a flexible fire-escape ladder, .of a hinged door or shutter adapted to swing downward and out- Ward in opening, and provided on its inner side with the cradle or rest, which is curved on its back, so as to form a saddle for the ladder when the door or shutter is open, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the reel and flexible ladder, of the hinged door or shutter H, provided on the inner side with the cradle H, having a curved back forming a saddle, and the guards h for the ladder at the ends ot'said saddle, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the wall A, of the frames B B, the hangers or brackets O, the eyebolts D, and the door or shutter H, hinged to said eyebolts, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a rotary reel capable of longitudinal movement, and its hangers or supports, of the two circular sinuous or corrugated bearing-surfaces, each having its projections or raised portions opposite the depressions of the other, and the projections adapted to engage with said surfaces, and serving to move the reel back and forth longitudinally, and thereby to retard its rotation, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the reel capable of longitudinal movement, having its heads or flanges F provided with the circular sinuous or corrugated bearing-surfaces k, the projections in each surface being opposite the depressions in the other, of the hangers or brackets O, and projections l insaid hangers or brackets, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the reel capable of longitudinal movement, havingits heads or 0, split or slotted and flattened at the ends, of 10 flanges F provided with the circular sinuous the metal strips or ribbons d, inserted in the or corrugated bearing-surfaces 7c, the projecends of the rungs and secured between their tions in each surface being opposite the deflattened portions, substantially as described.

5 pressions in the other, of the hangers or bra'ck- GEO. H. GLOWES.

ets O, and the screws 1, adjustable therein and EDWARD L. FRISBIE, JR. adapted to engage with the surfaces k, sub- Witnesses: I stantiaily as described. WM. W. BONNETT,

7. The combination, with the tubular rungs F. W. LA FORGE. 

